Producer Harve Bennett Dies
Harve Bennett, producer of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and three subsequent “Classic Trek” films, has died at the age of 84.
The Chicago-born Harve Bennett Fischman was best known for the Trek movies, but that job came after numerous successes on television producing shows like Mod Squad, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Invisible Man, Salvage 1, and Rich Man, Poor Man, among others.
Bennett became one of the youngest CBS executives following his graduation from UCLA film school and a tour in Korea with the U.S. Army. He co-created Mod Squad and moved from CBS to ABC, where he moved up the corporate ladder to eventually become Vice President of Programming under Leonard Goldberg.
Bennett has been credited with helping the Star Trek franchise survive its transition to film after Star Trek: The Motion Picture went over budget and almost didn’t make its release date. Bennett was brought on board after the sequel was shifted to the television division to produce, and his experience working with limited budgets served him (and the franchise) in good stead.
Bennett’s death comes just days after the death of Leonard Nimoy, and by an odd coincidence, both are credited with inspiring Arrow producers Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg in their handling of spoilers and promotion for their show, referencing a moment when Bennett and Nimoy confronted Paramount exec Sherry Lansing about the inclusion of the Enterprise explosion in the trailer. According to the story, Lansing’s response: “Well, do you want people to be surprised or do you want them to go to the movie?”, giving Guggenheim and Kreisberg a model for determining what gets kept secret on their show.
Bennett’s last project was the animated series Invasion America.
